Papa comes home and the Logans have a Christmas feast with the Averys.
Christmas dinner is a big celebration. It is also a big undertaking. It takes a long time to cook, and the meal is made by “the eldest girls,” Mama, Big Ma, and Mrs. Avery. All of the other kids try to hang out in the kitchen smelling the "delicious aromas" there, but keep getting kicked out until the meal is ready.
The meal lasted for over two hours through firsts, seconds, and thirds, talk and laughter, and finally dessert. (Ch. 7)
The feast is special because Papa is home, and the kids miss him. Stacey’s white friend Jeremy Smitts shows up unexpectedly at the door after dinner with some gifts. Papa tells Jeremy to leave before his father comes looking for him. T.J. shows contempt for the presents. Later, Stacey asks Papa if it is wrong to be friends with a white boy.
“Far as I’m concerned, friendship between black and white don’t mean that much ’cause it usually ain’t on a equal basis. Right now you and Jeremy might get along fine, but in a few years he’ll think of himself as a man but you’ll probably still be a boy to him. And if he feels that way, he’ll turn on you in a minute.” (Ch. 7)
Papa asks Stacey if he likes Jeremy, and he tells him that the boy likes to walk to school with him and doesn't care that the other white boys laugh. He tells his father that he doesn't think Jeremy will turn on him. His father explains to him that this is just the way it is between the races. Nothing will change. When Jeremey gets older, he will not be Stacey’s friend, even if he thinks he wants to be his friend now.
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